


Tied Up

by Fairfaxleasee



Series: Cullen/Lyta [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fade to Black, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairfaxleasee/pseuds/Fairfaxleasee
Summary: Lyta Adaar is surprised at what brought Cullen to her chambers at Skyhold.  And even more surprised when she sees what's inside it.
Relationships: Female Adaar/Cullen Rutherford, Female Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford
Series: Cullen/Lyta [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141982
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Tied Up

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at fairfaxleasee.tumblr.com (asks open)
> 
> Based on an idea from jacklyn-flynn.tumblr.com's Head Cannon du Jour
> 
> Thanks to @blondetexan and @xqueen0fhellx for betaing

Lyta Adaar tensed as she heard the door to her chambers in Skyhold open. Despite the facts that she was obviously in them (she never spent much time anywhere else in Skyhold when she wasn’t meeting with some other member of the Inquisition or the kitchens, and anyone looking for her up here would have checked there first) and that being a Qunari meant that almost all the easy hiding places wouldn’t hide  _ her _ , she still didn’t want to make it too easy for Josephine to drag her out to make that stupid public appearance the Ambassador was currently going on about (well, it was more likely that Josephine had sent Bull in to do the actual dragging, but still). She heard the footsteps begin to come up the stairs and ducked behind the desk in desperation. She really hoped the tips of her horns weren’t sticking out.

“You know that’s never going to actually work, right?” Lyta looked up and saw Cullen leaning over the desk grinning down at her. He wasn’t in his usual armor today, instead he was wearing a simple linen shirt and leathers. It was almost too bad, if he’d had the armor on, she’d have heard it and wouldn’t have bothered hiding. Or trying to.

“Cullen! What… what are you doing here?” She could feel a blush begin to creep up her neck towards her face.

Cullen leaned down and traced the path of the flush on her neck with a finger. When he reached the top, he pressed his whole hand to her neck and started to rub it gently. That only made the blush spread quicker. “Well, Josephine wanted me to come up here because she thought I’d have better success getting you out than Bull. She  _ still _ hasn’t forgiven you for last time when you grabbed onto the doorframe in the audience chamber, you know.”

Lyta turned away from him and scowled. “If she doesn’t want me grabbing the doorframe, she should stop asking Bull to cart me around like a sack of flour just so all these stupid visitors can gawk at the Qunari Inquisitor like I’m some sort of a pet curiosity.”

Cullen shifted his hand to caress her chin and coax her eyes back to him, “Yes, that’s why she asked me to come up here, schnecke.” Lyta waited until the blush she got when he started using that name for her (he’d gotten it from the pastry she’d made once on a whim and hadn’t been able to stop making since, as he couldn’t seem to get enough of them) faded before she turned towards him and pouted. She made sure her lower lip was quivering sufficiently pathetically. He flinched away from her gaze and let out a small tsk, “Maker’s breath, not the lip. You know I’m defenseless against that.” She kept her lip out, but held it still. In exchange she sniffled a few times and batted her eyes as she looked up at him. Unfortunately he’d caught onto her and wasn’t looking back, “It’s still out, isn’t it?”

“Mm-hum.”

“Look, I swear I’m not here to make you go out and meet the Cumberland delegation, now will you please put that utterly devastating weapon of yours away so I can tell you what I  _ am _ here for?”

“You really  _ promise _ you’re not going to make me go downstairs? ‘Cause if you  _ do _ I’m going to be looking at you with the lip the whole time.”

He finally turned back to her and smiled, “Dear Maker, anything but that! Honestly, I think I’d rather play Wicked Grace with Josephine  _ while _ at one of Cassia Hawke’s dinner parties that Sera did the cooking for based on recipes from Dorian than have you do  _ that _ !” He took his hand off her chin and used it to reach out to her.

She gripped it and stood then angled her legs to perch on a corner of the desk. Cullen watched her do it and kept his gaze roving over her once she was still. Based on the grin that was tugging at a corner of his mouth, he was getting ideas. “No, Cullen.”

He reached one hand behind her back and untied the ribbon holding her hair up with the other, then plunged his hand into the waves of deep brown hair he’d sent cascading to her shoulders. “No?  _ Really _ ?”

She pressed her fingers into his shoulder and rubbed them in small circles, “Yes;  _ really _ . Every time we do that I end up with bruises on my back and hips for the rest of the week.”

“Well, if you want we could try-” 

She let go of his shoulder and flicked his ear, “I don’t  _ want _ bruises on my knees instead.”

“Alright, you win, schnecke,” he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “That’s not what I came up here for either, although once she stops being mad about you skipping out on Cumberland, I’m going to talk to Josephine about getting you a better desk.”

“What’s wrong with  _ your _ desk?”

“Nothing, but something’s obviously wrong with the door, since every scout and soldier in this organization of yours seems to think it being closed means they should just walk in.”

“Oh, so it’s  _ my _ organization now? You were the one who started it as I recall.”

“That was Cassandra and Leliana, but you’re the Inquisitor,” he slid his hand out of her hair to cradle her jaw. “It’s yours now.”

“Why’d you do  _ that _ anyway?” Lyta still didn’t understand why Cullen had spearheaded the campaign for her to be Inquisitor.

He smiled at her, “Because I knew you could handle it. And, well… nevermind; it’s not important.”

She knew he was holding something back from her. And she was almost positive it had to do with that training session she still couldn’t remember. “Cullen-”

He leaned towards her and shifted his hand to the back of her head so he could press it to his chest. She felt him lay his own head on top of hers. He whispered, “ _ Please _ don’t ask me that, Lyta. Just… it’s better that you don’t know.”

She reached up to grasp at the ends of his golden curls, “But-”

“Lyta, I am  _ begging you _ , please trust me on this. It’s under control; no one’s in any danger right now.”

“...would you tell me if that changed?”

He gently pulled her head away from him and angled it towards his face, “I’ll tell you if I have to.  _ Please, _ let it go.”

“I don’t like you keeping secrets from me, Cullen.”

“And I don’t like keeping them. But I need to keep this one.”

She closed her eyes and nodded (at least as much as she could with his fist in her hair).

He let go of her hair and brought both his hands across her back to clasp her in a tight embrace, “I’m sorry, schnecke. But thank you.”

She leaned her chin on his shoulder and traced a finger up and down the back of his neck. “But I’m guessing that’s not what you came up here for either?”   
  


“Hm?” Cullen turned to her in confusion for a few seconds before shaking his head, “Nevermind, it’s not important right now.”

“Oh no, you don’t,” she leaned away from him and scowled. “I’m putting my foot down, Cullen; I’m only going to let you keep one secret from me at a time, so either you tell me why you came up here or you tell me the other thing!”

He laughed once and shot her his lop-sided grin, “You drive an incredibly hard bargain, Hippolyta Adaar.”

She dropped her jaw in exaggerated outrage, “ _ Who told you my full name? _ ”

“Let me think… I seem to recall it was someone incredibly talented, and kind, with absolutely gorgeous silver skin, and horns that make it just a bit difficult for them to hide; who I just can’t get enough of.”

“Bull does not know my full name.”

He laughed and shook his head, “You talk in your sleep sometimes, schnecke. A few nights ago you were very mad at someone and told them not to go calling you Hippolyta.”

She scrunched her face back into a scowl at him. She wanted to argue that she did  _ not _ talk in her sleep, but it was the most logical explanation, since no one else in the Inquisition  _ should _ know her full name. 

He was grinning at her again, “Don’t worry, I won’t call you that if you don’t want me to.” She was about to thank him for that when he continued, “Wouldn’t want you to get as mad at me as you were whoever you were talking to that night. You were downright terrifying. Well, as terrifying as someone could be when they’re-”

She shoved her hand in his face and pushed him away, “Alright, that’s enough out of you.”

He grabbed her wrist to keep her hand still as he ducked around it, “So you  _ don’t _ want to know what I came up here for then?”

“Okay, fine, tell me; but if it’s not good, I just might kick you out through the window instead of the door!”

He pulled her towards him and pressed her close with one hand and ran the other over the curve of her hip. “I wanted to know if you’ve seen my journal anywhere.”

“I-” she quirked a brow and tilted her head slightly. “You came up here looking for your journal?” 

“No, I came up here to ask if you’ve  _ seen _ my journal.”

She kept looking at him quizzically, “Yes, you left it on the bedside table. I put it in the desk; hang on.” She disentangled herself from him and turned towards the desk. She shot him an annoyed glance over her shoulder when she felt him use the opportunity to fondle her ass. He wasn’t fooling  _ anyone _ with the innocent look he was giving the ceiling. She decided to go the long way around and knelt to open the drawer rather than bend, so as not to present the same target twice.

When she stood with the leather book in her hands, she found he’d moved away from the desk and was sitting on the bed. She shook the book at him as she walked towards him, “You couldn’t wait three seconds for me to pull it out?”

He narrowed his eyes at her slightly and shot her that grin she hated she loved, “I thought the view might be better over here.” He held out his hand for the book.

She extended her arm to hand him the book, but rather than take it, he grabbed her and twisted her around as he pulled her towards him to sit her between his legs on the bed. She half turned in his arms to look at him and said, “You are utterly incorrigible, Cullen; you know that, right?”

He reached a hand up and started adjusting some errant strands of hair around her horns, “I will be whatever you want me to be.”

“Yes, for about five seconds before it’s straight back to incorrigible!”

“Hm.” He smiled at her for a few heartbeats before the expression twisted into the sinful grin she was still surprised a man who’d spent most of his life in the Chantry was capable of making (she wasn’t an expert in the institution by any means, but she’d always gotten the general impression that its members considered themselves above carnal desires). He wrapped his hand around the one of hers holding the book, “You didn’t happen to read any of it, did you?”

“Of course not, Cullen! It’s your journal!”

He looked slightly annoyed.

_ Why in the world is he annoyed I  _ didn’t _ read his journal? _

He snatched the book away and reached around her to flip through it. Once he found the page he wanted, he placed the book in her hands and twisted her shoulders so she was facing away from him again. He tucked her hair over one of her shoulders, then snaked one arm around her waist to hold her against him and used his other hand to hold the journal out in front of her.

“I don’t - Cullen, what are you  _ doing _ ?” She turned her head back and could just catch him in her peripheral vision.

“Lyta, schnecke,” his eyes were low and his voice was husky. He pressed his lips to the back of her neck, “Please just read the blighted book.” She felt herself flushing again as the shape of his lips changed to the unmistakable curve of a grin against her skin. “Did you know,” he murmured against her, “you turn the most enticing shade of lilac when you blush?”

“I… um… uh… n-no?” Lyta couldn’t say she’d ever really thought about what color she blushed before.

Cullen adjusted the pressure on her waist to coax her to lean back and she felt his lips follow the flush up her neck towards her face, “Absolutely captivating,” he whispered between kisses. “And you haven’t even read the book yet.”

Lyta had completely forgotten she was holding the book, “But, Cullen, it’s your journal…” 

He lifted his lips from her neck and closed his teeth over the point of her ear until she whimpered, “I know, and I’m telling you to  _ read it _ .”

“I… um… alright.” He used his shoulder to push her back so she wasn’t leaning anymore and she looked down at the book.

“Aloud, Lyta,” he kissed her neck.

“‘17 Harvestmere: Some new Qunari armor designs were sent to Skyhold last week and the Quartermaster finally had the supplies to make some mock ups. I saw Lyta in the light armor in the courtyard through the open door that idiot scout can’t seem to manage to close. While I can’t say I’m at all enthused about the idea of her actually wearing it into battle anywhere, something about seeing her in all those ropes was absolutely’-”

“Don’t tell me you can’t recognize the word, schnecke,” he shifted his hips behind her and she let out a soft moan.

“‘Absolutely riveting.’” Lyta could feel the telltale pinpricks of the blush spreading over her cheeks and Cullen’s eyes watching it. She swallowed before she continued, softer than before, “‘I watched her in the courtyard for a bit, trying to get used to moving in the armor. Bull must have seen me looking, because he came up and started telling me about the ropes. He said that because they’re made for armor, they’re treated with something that keeps them from damaging the skin when they rub against it. Then he told me that in his experience, for Qunari women, that armor was usually made with thirty-five foot ropes. He went on and said that, in his experience with Qunari women, with ropes of that length I’d be able to-’” Lyta was almost positive she was more lilac than silver at that point. Reading about what they could do with that much rope took too much of Lyta’s brain for her to be able to continue reading aloud.

Fortunately Cullen didn’t seem to care. She could feel his chest rise and fall against her back and his hips rock behind her. “Where’s the armor, Lyta?”

“It’s-it’s in the closet.”

“Do you want to get it?”

“ _ Yes _ .”

She tried to stand, but he grabbed her and yanked the entire lace out of her shirt so he could pull it off as he shifted them to push her to the mattress and lean over her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this lilac before, Lyta.”

She had no response to that other than an impatient whimper.

“Wait here. And when Josephine asks why you couldn’t come down to see the Cumberland delegation, we can just tell her you were all tied up.”


End file.
